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Oblivion (Discipline)
Oblivion is a Discipline that allows its users to draw on something wholly unnatural; calling forth supernatural darkness from the Abyss and enslaving specters through Oblivion. It is used by the Lasombra clan and the Hecata bloodlines in Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. It combines Obtenebration and Necromancy from previous editions. Overview Those who practice Oblivion flirt with something unnatural; the very realm where wraiths are destroyed forever. This danger does not come without power however, as the masters of this Discipline call upon it to wreathe themselves in night, enslave specters, and throttle victims with their own shadow. On a result of 1 or 10 when making a Rouse Check for the Discipline, the vampire suffers a Stain as Oblivion seeps into their soul. These can be avoided by those with potent blood, who may reroll certain Discipline-associated Rouse Checks. Oblivion's supernatural projections of darkness and void are vulnerable to bright directed lights, fire, sunlight, and True Faith. A lack of shadows to pull from can make this Discipline difficult to use, though ultraviolet and infrared lights have no effect. Oblivion is resonant to a total lack of Resonance, such as psychopaths and those without emotional attachment. Official Abilities Included below are the official powers described in supplements for Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition. Standard Powers * ** Shadow Cloak: The vampire shapes ambient shadows to conceal their presence and make themselves more frightening. They add dice to Stealth tests, and the same amount to Intimidation tests against mortals. ** Oblivion's Sight: The vampire's irises become black against the white of their sclera. They ignore all darkness penalties, even those brought on by supernatural darkness, and can see ghosts. ** Ashes to Ashes: The vampire may disintigrate non-Kindred corpses with their vitae, including animated cadavers like those brought to false life with Oblivion. ** The Binding Fetter: The vampire can identify objects and locations important to ghosts by a faint aura. Amalgam with Auspex 1. * ** Shadow Cast: The vampire summons a supernatural shadow from Oblivion, one which they control and can only be destroyed by sunlight. It allows them to use other Oblivion powers through it despite the presence of light, and casting it on somebody during social conflict intensifies the Willpower damage that victim suffers. ** Arms of Ahriman: The vampire summons two-dimensional shadow tendrils which glide across surfaces and victims, alternatively engaging in mystical grapples with the victim's shadow. They attack using the vampire's Wits and Oblivion, benefiting from their Potence when inflicting damage. Multiple tendrils can be created by splitting the vampire's dice pool. Amalgam with Potence 2. ** Fatal Precognition: The vampire's eyes become black and they remain still while they scry a vision which shows the death of a non-Kindred they can percieve. Attempts to subvert the fate seen in the vision become more difficult. Amalgam with Auspex 2. ** Where the Shroud Thins: The vampire determines the density of the local Shroud, learning whether ghosts (and Kindred with the right Ceremony) may cross between worlds here, how difficult uses of Oblivion are, and whether mortals are at risk. They do not learn the cause of the Shroud's condition, simply what it is. * ** Shadow Perspective: The vampire casts their senses to a shadow they can see, maintaining both their mundane senses and their shadow perspective. This eavesdropping cannot be detected without supernatural means, such as Sense the Unseen from Auspex. ** Touch of Oblivion: The vampire touches their victim and channels the raw entropic power of Oblivion through them. The victim suffers aggravated damage, and a crippling injury (blindness, muteness, a ruined limb, or the like). ** Aura of Decay: The vampire's connection to Oblivion manifests as an aura which spoils food, poisons water, wears down structures, and kills living things with their mere presence. ** Passion Feast: The vampire has developed the startling ability to consume the raw emotions of wraiths to temporarily sate their hunger, erroding the ghost's reason for being in their foul gluttony. Amalgam with Fortitude 2. * ** Stygian Shroud: The vampire spreads a suffocating darkness across a large area, muting sound and suppressing all other senses. Those within the shroud (except the user) suffer a total blindness penalty on all actions requiring sight, and mortals suffocate. ** Necrotic Plague: With a touch, the vampire may poison a mortal's blood using the pure pollutant of Oblivion. This horrific disease ravages their body and risks becoming contagious. * ** Shadow Step: The vampire disappears into shadow, skating across the Labyrinth to reemerge after travelling across something fouler than death and twice as hungry. They step into a shadow large enough to cover them, and reemerge from one they can see. This includes shadows viewed through mystical means, such as Shadow Perspective. ** Tenebrous Avatar: The vampire becomes a sentient patch of two-dimensional darkness, immune to damage except fire and sunlight. While in this shadow state they can pass through anything not hermetically sealed, are immune to most harms as described above, and can envelop others to feed without breaking the skin. Those enveloped by a vampire using Tenebrous Avatar suffer the effects of Stygian Shroud. ** Skuld Fulfilled: The vampire coats their palms and face with blood, recalling the faces of their victims and reintroducing old illnesses with new fury. Ghouls who fall victim to this power feel the vitae in their veins become inert, aging and possibly dying. ** Withering Spirit: The vampire coats both of their hands in vitae, and touches a victim. Channeling raw entropy, they decay the spirit, causing severe damage and possibly preventing the victim's return as a wraith if they are obliterated. Ceremonies While the Lasombra tend to favor the raw power offered by this Discipline, the bloodlines of the Hecata take advantage of its ritual uses in their necromancy. Oblivion pulls hard on the mental fortitude of the caster, who must often make a sacrifice for the Ceremony to work. Ceremonies each have a prerequisite Oblivion power. This requirement acts as a gateway for necromancers that blood sorcerers need not pass through. * ** The Gift of False Life: Through use of this Ceremony, a vampire can raise a corpse or group of corpses to perform simple, single or repetitive tasks.Cults of the Blood Gods for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Ed. by Richard Thomas » Preview: Oblivion Ceremonies — Kickstarter ** Summon Spirit: This Ceremony enables a vampire to summon a spirit from the Underworld. ** Traveller's Call: This Ceremony enables a priest of Shalim to send a ripple across Oblivion and alert another Shalimite that they wish to meet, and where. * ** Awaken the Homuncular Servant: Necromancers use this Ceremony to create spies and stalkers out of body parts such as hands or skulls, or small dead animals like rats or foxes. ** Compel Spirit: This Ceremony allows a vampire to bend a wraith to their will. * ** Host Spirit: This Ceremony allows a vampire to open their body to possession by a ghost. ** Shambling Hordes: This Ceremony enables a necromancer to raise a group of aggressive, walking dead minions. ** Name of the Father: This Ceremony enables a Shalimite vampire to shroud the mind of a victim in shadow, paralysing them and rendering them numb to all sensory input except touch. * ** Bind the Spirit: Vampires with access to this Ceremony have the ability to bind wraiths to specified locations and people. ** Split the Shroud: This Ceremony allows a vampire to create a tear in the Shroud through which wraiths can pass and vampires with the correct Ceremonies can physically enter the Shadowlands. * ** Ex Nihilo: This Ceremony enables a vampire and their coterie to migrate into the Shadowlands, though doing so comes at great risk. ** Lazarene Blessing: This Ceremony enables a necromancer to bring a freshly-dead body back to life, though not how its relatives and friends might remember it. ** Pit of Contemplation: This Ceremony enables a Shalimite vampire to cast a victim into Oblivion itself. Mortals expire immediately, but Kindred are trapped in the endless void forever, unless somebody sees fit to reverse the Ceremony and retrieve them. Trivia The Oblivion Discipline is first featured in Chapter Six of Onyx Path V5 book, Chicago by Night 5th Edition, covering powers of obtenebration. Necromantic powers and Ceremonies of Oblivion will be explored in the upcoming book, Cults of the Blood Gods, in Chapter Six: Hecata and Oblivion. References ---- Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Category:Discipline (VTM) Category:Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition Category:Lasombra Category:Hecata